To the Editor:

My son is 9 years old and he was going to the YMCA after-school program called Y-Time, which is held at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School.  My son has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD; anxiety; and learning disabilities as well as other mental-health things.

He has been bullied by the kids in the program since September, and nothing really is done about it; I just get told, “Kids will be kids.”

Anyways, in this after-school program, there are three teachers and they are all under the age of 20 years old. They do not have experience or training to deal with children who have disabilities or specific needs such as my son.

My son was being picked on during free time by some of the other children, so naturally he acted out (this usually involves screaming) and he got in trouble. When he was told to take a break, he ended up running out of the room and hiding in an open locker; it’s one of those tall lockers that a small child can stand up in.

He got into the locker himself and pulled the door part-way closed; he is afraid of the dark and would never close it all the way. The teacher walked up, closed him in the locker, and locked it on him so there was no way he could unlatch it from the inside.

She left him in there for a couple minutes while he was screaming and crying and asking her to let him out. When I asked about this incident, she came right out and told me she did this, but acted like it was no big deal.

After that had happened, he ended up acting out, throwing things around the room and having a manic episode (mental breakdown due to his disabilities). Instead of trying to stop him and calm him down, the other teacher kept telling him to keep throwing things around, more keep making a bigger mess, and all the while she was recording him having a mental breakdown on her cell phone without permission from me.

The next day, a half-hour before the program started, the site director spoke to me on the phone to tell me that my son was kicked out of the after-school program due to his actions the day before. But all the while his actions were due to the staff that is supposed to be keeping my son safe and watching him.

He is being bullied in school by kids and instead of teachers (young adults) helping him and listening to him and his needs, they were bullying him and picking on him as well ... These teenagers/young adults should not be employed to watch young children when they are abusing them, in a school after-school program.

I also feel like it is all hush-hush and none of the other parents will find out about what is really going on.

What is the difference between a babysitter that you pay to watch your child at your house who mentally and emotionally abuses your child and locks them in their room and doesn’t allow them to come out, and an employed after-school teacher, whom you pay to watch your child at school while you’re at work, who lets kids bully him and then joins in the bullying by locking him in a locker and videotaping him having a mental breakdown without permission from me as the parent.

All these teens are getting is a “speaking too” but, if I did something like this to my own child, Child Protective Services would be called and actions would be being taken to get my kids taken from me.   

Ashlee Overbaugh

Berne

Editor’s note: See related story.